Social media rules everyone should remember

Nowadays, everyone and their grandma is using social media — I’m serious,I have a lot of elderly Facebook friends.

Not only does your grandma and family clog your social media, your boss, co-workers and potential employers use it, too.This makes it even more important to watch what you are doing online.

I know it’s no fun to follow rules. Deep down, we all just want to post whatever we want, whenever we want…but unfortunately that’s not how things work anymore.

Being smart doesn’t have to be hard — just follow these simple rules:

1. Watch those photos

Countless times, I have seen photos on profiles that I just can’t help but think, “Why? Why would you post that?”

Those fun, drunken nights with friends when you are surrounded by alcohol: not good to post.

On the beach in your teeny bikini: generally not good to post.

Any other debauchery, especially of the illegal variety: generally not good to post.

Before posting a picture, think about whether you would care if your mother, boss, professor or co-workers were to see it. You also have to watch which photos your’e tagged in and may have to ask your friends to take down or untag you in a photo.

2. No more subtweets

For those who don’t know, subtweets are the tweets people post that are obviously talking about a specific person, but you can’t tell who it is.

Example: “I can’t believe you did that.”

Example 2: “I’m so done with you.”

These are not good to post for a number of reasons. First of all, they are annoying. No one wants to read them. Secondly, they make you look immature. Keep the fights and negative feelings off of social media.

3. Even worse than a subtweet, getting in a fight online

There are a few profiles I visit just to watch the drama unfold. Comments on pictures, back and forth arguing, twitter conversations that are relentlessly fighting about something silly…

Again, this makes you look immature and — especially if there are obscenities or insults — makes you look even worse. Nobody will want to hire someone (or even be friends with someone) who gets into a public fight online.

4. Over-posting

You want to post enough to be engaging with your followers and friends, but posting too often can lead people to just skip over your tweets or posts.

Keep it to a manageable level. Think about how long it takes you to unfollow someone who is constantly clogging up your feed. It may be happening to you!

5. Posting confidential information.

There are things that are not good to post online. I always watch out for my exact location. I think it’s dangerous for everyone to know where I am and where I’m not. It just opens you up to bad things.

Personal phone numbers can be posted in some cases, but usually it’s best to keep them off your profile. And obviously: no addresses, social security numbers, etc.

This article comes from The USA TODAY College Contributor network. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of USA TODAY. You understand that we have no obligation to monitor any discussion forums, blogs, photo- or video-sharing pages, or other areas of the Site through which users can supply information or material. However, we reserve the right at all times, in our sole discretion, to screen content submitted by users and to edit, move, delete, and/or refuse to accept any content that in our judgment violates these Terms of Service or is otherwise unacceptable or inappropriate, whether for legal or other reasons.